[TR] Mt. Stuart - West Ridge 8/6/2012

[keenwesh]

Trip: Mt. Stuart - West Ridge

 

Date: 8/6/2012

 

Trip Report:

With the time of my departure from home getting nearer and my younger sister leaving for 11 months to Colombia for a foreign exchange program I thought I should do something with my 12 year old brother, who, in a couple days, will be an only child!

 

Originally I wanted to do something big before heading east, like the N ridge of stuart or backbone in a day, something with lots of suffering that I'd been eyeing for a while. With my sister leaving though I rethought and asked Jack if he'd be interested. I took the "umm... I guess..." as a yes and got my buddy Max on board as well.

 

We drove in the Teanaway road sunday afternoon and left the car around 6 pm.

 

Jack setting the pace

 

The saddle between the n fk Teanaway and Ingalls creek was reached at 8 and camp was set just below that on some open slabs. The bugs were horrendous. dinner was cooked inside the tent and the alarm set for 4 am.

 

When the alarm went off I decided it was too early and slept for another 40 minutes. We had a quick oatmeal breakfast and packed up water and some other goodies for the climb. Hiking up past Ingalls lake to Stuart pass and eventually the base of the route we were treated to a fantastic sunrise. The first section of the climb up clean granite slabs was wonderful. There were clouds building in the south that gave me some concern and once we reached the top of the first gully it started to sprinkle. I found a overhanging rock and we hunkered down for half an hour while the rainclouds passed overhead. When the weather cleared I threw a rope on Jack and followed Maxes lead up to Long John Tower. Above the tower we passed through a short tunnel.

 

The west summit was traversed

 

and soon we found ourselves at the notch. A few short pitches of scrambling with about 15 feet of 5.8 (I got off route) and I topped out just below the summit.

 

Smiling just below the top on his first climb ever, not bad!

 

I told Jack to drag the rope up to the top

 

By this time the clouds had almost all burned off and we enjoyed some time lounging on the summit.

 

 

Alas, all good things must come to a end. The Cascadian coulior sucked to descend.

 

Max towards the top of the endless knee grinding scree.

 

Somewhere in the middle

 

Eventually we made it down, hiked through the clouds of bugs back to camp. At camp we spent an hour eating and hydrating before packing everything up at dusk and cruising the 4 miles of downhill back to the car. Jack had forgotten his headlamp but even with me shining my light so he could see it was all I could do to keep up with him! Way more energy than what I had at 12!

 

Blasting!

 

Made it to the the car a little after 10 and were back in Olympia by 1:30. Mom was thrilled.

 

Gear Notes:

Placed 2 pieces mostly because I was carrying them. At tricky spots it was easy to find a stance for a hip belay. Trekking poles are really good to have on the descent down the Cascadian. A parapent would be better.

 

Approach Notes:

Up the hill and around the lake.

[genepires]

"Mom was thrilled."

 

thrilled because of the climb that was done or that you all were back home.

 

nice job on all.

[Drederek]

Yer a good egg, Keenan! Where is that hole you guys crawled thru? I've never found that.

[Tyson.g]

Nice!

[JasonG]

Woah. That is quite the climb for a 12 year old. Makes me think that I can look forward to some fun adventures with my wee boys in a few years!

[kevbone]

Right on.....cant wait to take my kids on that adventure when they are old enough.

[keenwesh]

Where is that hole you guys crawled thru? I've never found that.

 

the hole is just above long john tower, we traversed high.

 

yeah, it was quite the trip for a youngin. I was feeling bad all afternoon, just waiting for Jack to get tired and say that he hated climbing but it never happened! he kept on trucking up the trail through the mosquito clouds!

 

 

Mom was thrilled that we'd made it home safe. I didn't want to stay an extra night because I knew she'd car SAR since I was with Jack. If it's just me out in the mountains she's a little slower to jump on that one.

 

Thanks for the kind words guys!

[KaskadskyjKozak]

 

I was so stoked when I did this climb a few years ago. 12 year old? The air just rushed out of that balloon. :-/

 

Well done to you both!

 

[yikes]

Just did W.Ridge with my son who turned 17 in July. He is normally a flatlander from WI but has climbed on and off throughout the years with me and was a recent finisher in a century ride. I was impressed at how responsible, careful and tough he was. Your brother starting at 12 will be a real manimal by 17. Nice work getting him out there.

[YocumRidge]

Kids these days!

 

We were carrying over from the Mowich Face via DC the other day and run into a 6 year old who was registered by NPS for a 2 day DC climb with his dad.

 

At 11400':

 

[Tyson.g]

Saw a 2yo and a 5yo old at Camp Curtis the same weekend.

 

Not to mention the 6yo and 8yo who had also hiked to Camp Curtis for the day with thier parents.

 

We had an 11yo old in our group.

 

Quite a busy weekend for the kids I guess.

 

 

[jordansahls]

I think it is good at times to put the climbing ambitions aside and take the time to appreciate what really matters. I always look forward to getting out with my older brother. Way to give your brother a great memory at a young age. That is way cooler in my opinion than sending a tough grade.

[montypiton]

Well done, Keenan!!! Where was Dad? Did you guys make it to Canada as planned? I've been out of touch.

 

And,yeah, while it might feel like you're doing this for Jack - this is really a long-term investment for you... when you hit my age, Jack will be rope-gunning for you!! -- my own brother is twelve years younger than I, and although I did start him climbing, he gravitated to fishing, and worked his college summers guiding fly-fishing trips in Alaska. Which means thirty years later, I have my own private guide on the blue-ribbon fly streams in northern Idaho and western Montana... and Alaska when we can both get there... A couple years back, at a family reunion, John told me how he'd got hired for that fishing guide job: the company owner did a double take at his last name on his job app and asked "any relation to Curt?" and when John allowed as how, "yeah, I'm his little brother" the guy hired him on the spot! Turns out this guy had been one of the little Boy Scouts I'd worked with at Philmont back in the early '70s. Partners will come and go, but your brother? - well, you'll see...

 

Say hi to your Dad, and stop through on your way east if you get the urge.

 

-Haireball

Edited August 9, 2012 by montypiton

[keenwesh]

scotty was painting trim and could not be persuaded.

 

We spent the last week of July in the Waddington range, 3 days of sitting in the rain at (aptly named) rainy knob and the rest of the time making an attempt on waddington. Got to the base of the summit tower in time to watch the route get swept by rime/rockfall every 5 minutes. The traverse over to the NW summit was posthole heaven with big danger from rimefall from above, so we turned around about halfway across it. I thought about posting a TR but decided against it as I'm fairly lazy and we didn't actually summit anything.

 

here's a teaser, skywalk and most of belligerence on Combatant.

[trees4me]

That's a great climb and really impressive your little bro could do it at his age!

 

We're planning on a high bivy in the next couple weeks, so was wondering how much snow was on route? Any good patches left for melting/water?

 

[Buckaroo]

Saw a 2yo and a 5yo old at Camp Curtis the same weekend.

 

 

Oh yeah? Well I saw a 1 year old climbing M-7 on NEB of Johannesburg. And he was smoking, drinking vodka, and eating bacon.

 

Nice TR Keenwesh, I've been taking my nieces out doing things, but not climbing yet. One of them looks like she has potential, just have to clear it with her mom.

[Tyson.g]

 

Oh yeah? Well I saw a 1 year old climbing M-7 on NEB of Johannesburg. And he was smoking, drinking vodka, and eating bacon.

 

Then you win.

 

Nice TR Keenwash.

 

[KaskadskyjKozak]

[Oh yeah? Well I saw a 1 year old climbing M-7 on NEB of Johannesburg. And he was smoking, drinking vodka, and eating bacon.

 

Must have been Russian.

[Off_White]

naw, Polish.

[keenwesh]

We're planning on a high bivy in the next couple weeks, so was wondering how much snow was on route? Any good patches left for melting/water?

 

Don't have internet at my house yet, hence to long time for a response.

There were a couple small snowpatches on route, there wasn't any water coming out of them (well, maybe a drop every 5 seconds) and in the last few weeks I wouldn't be surprised if they had melted away entirely. Plenty of bivi sites around the area of the west ridge notch though, it could be done, but you'd have to carry all your water.

 

After I flew the nest I guess my dad got antsy, started up his own CC account, and wrote up a TR about the waddington trip!

 

if anyone's interested: Waddington Trip Report